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Huntley & Palmers Biscuits
W.H. Smith - Enlarge image
Huntley & Palmers Biscuits
- Object:
Poster
- Place of origin:
London (printed)
- Date:
1891 (made)
- Artist/Maker:
W.H. Smith (printer)
- Materials and Techniques:
Colour lithograph on paper.
- Credit Line:
Given by Ogilvy Benson & Mather Ltd.
- Museum number:
E.906-1973
- Gallery location:
British Galleries, Room 125, Edwin and Susan Davies Gallery, case WS
Design & Designing
Biscuit manufacturers were among the first to introduce branding to distinguish grocery products. At this time most biscuits were supplied to retailers in large tins and then sold loose. The branding was therefore for display in the shop, identifying the goods. Huntley & Palmers used a distinctive ‘girdle and buckle’ trademark, which was soon imitated by other companies.
Subjects Depicted
By 1900 Huntley & Palmers was the largest biscuit manufacturer in the world selling their products in 172 countries. This international reach was exploited in series of advertising leaflets featuring scenes from around the world. This poster shows a scene in India and the end of a tiger hunt, in which the European participants have stopped to take refreshments.
People
Thomas Huntley, who had previously helped his father Joseph run a confectionary shop in Reading, founded Huntley & Palmers in 1822 with his cousin engineer George Palmer. The company pioneered the use of the biscuit tin in the 1830s, manufactured by tinsmith and ironmonger brother Joseph (whose firm became Huntley, Boorne and Stephens). Tins allowed their products safe transport initially to supply stage coach travellers staying at the Crown Inn in Reading but also enabling transport further affield.
